Well, ANY netbook is going to be underpowered when compared to a MacBook Pro. Netbooks are designed to give you the bare basics for computing. You can run iTunes (though HD video playback is impossible and SD video playback might stutter at time, this is due to iTunes using software acceleration for video playback and not hardware), Office 2007 (or the latest version of OpenOffice), Windows 7, FireFox, etc.
The HP Mini 311 and Toshiba S1125 are both very capable machines with the Toshiba giving you performance that is very close to what a true notebook will give you. The Eee PC 1001P is also capable except when it comes to HD video playback. YouTube HD is definitely out of the question with that too but it will work with either the Mini 311 or Toshiba.
The only downside is that the more capable netbooks (and ultra portable notebooks) last about 6 hours on a single charge. The MacBook Pro models with the uni-body configurations get about 6.5-7 hours of real world usage. Basically the netbook (or ultra portable notebook) will act as a companion to your MacBook Pro. You can take it on short trips without having to haul around a 5+ lb notebook and still get the bare basics of PC functionality.
On a side note, have you thought about the Apple iPad? It is definitely more expensive than even a well equipped netbook but it can last for 10 hours of real world usage on a single charge, playback 720p iTunes Store purchases (along with other 720p mpeg-4 AVC videos), and thinner (and smaller) than any netbook currently on the market (even the older 6-7" ones). It runs the iPhone OS version 3.2 and looks a lot like a glorified iPod touch. However, Apple is coming out with Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for the iPad. Each application can open, edit, save, and e-mail Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents (even the new docx, xlsx, and pptx files). It can even playback YouTube HD videos quite smoothly and comes with an iBooks app (you can download newspaper/magazine subscriptions along with books at prices that compete with Amazon and the Kindle). I am not sure if you want to stay within the Apple universe though. An iPad with a paltry 16GB of storage costs $499, the 32GB model comes in at $599, and the 64GB iPad is $699. All of those use solid state storage so you can put the iPad in a paint shaker and it wouldn't skip.
Just something to think about. An HP Mini 311 will definitely have more features (as it runs Windows XP/7) and come in at a lower cost. However, many of the Apple fans are already drinking the Kool-Aid when it comes to the iPad. I plan on messing with one at the Apple store in northern Cincinnati whenever I move back there at the end of the month. The iPad will be released sometime in March, more than likely the end of March. I might just walk away from the store with a new product.
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